West Modesto drive-by shooting injures 4

ED CRISOSTOMO/ecrisostomo@modbee.com
Emergency crew cares for one of four victims shot during a drive-by shooting at the 1400 block of Western Way on Thursday evening (03-14-13) in Modesto, CA. The Modesto Bee

ED CRISOSTOMO/ecrisostomo@modbee.com
Emergency crew cares for one of four victims shot during a drive-by shooting at the 1400 block of Western Way on Thursday evening (03-14-13) in Modesto, CA. The Modesto Bee

Four people were injured in a drive-by shooting Thursday night in west Modesto, authorities said.

The shooting took place just after 8 p.m. in the 1400 block of Western Way, a block south of Tuolumne Boulevard.

The victims were standing in front of a home there when the suspect or suspects drove by and opened fire, said Sgt. Terry Seese of the Modesto Police Department.

As police responded to the scene, reports of the number of victims continued to rise. One of the victims ran around the corner after being shot and wasn't accounted for until several minutes after police arrived.

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Three men and one woman were taken to area hospitals with gunshot wounds. Three of them were reported to have injuries that were not life-threatening, while the fourth was shot multiple times and was in critical condition. No deaths had been reported within a couple hours of the shooting.

The victims were in their late teens to early 30s.

Deputies with the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department and Modesto police officers were on scene.

There was scant information on possible suspects. Seese said multiple witnesses gave conflicting vehicle descriptions, so he didn't want to release a description until officers had spoken with the victims to determine what the car looked like.